I'm making this thread so we can share our expericences with the summoning mechanics of Seraphon in AoS 2.0.

The second edition has been out for a while now, and it gave many of us the opportunity to try and play with our new Celestial Conjuration points.

I'd like to know what everybody thinks of our summoning mechanic as a whole, which units they usually find most useful to be summoned and why.

Personally I think it has become a mandatory part of our army. It is so strong that pretty much every list has to include a Slann. The variances come to which degree you're putting effort into the summoning mechanic. For example, a dedicated summoning list like a Shadowstrike or Thunderquake can churn out quite the number of units over the course of 5 rounds, as opposed to a Fang of Sotek list which will probably make use of the ability once or twice in the whole game, bringing in some kind of support to the hordes of Saurus.

I usually play a Thunderquake, and will be trying out Shadowstrike very soon, with emphasis on summoning (Cogs and Balewind used). I usually summon in Skinks, Bastiladons or Oldbloods on Carnosaurs. Razordons seem like a solid choice too, just never had the right opportunity to do so yet.

I normally let my EotGs summon my skinks. If EotGs fails me then I will use Celestial Conjuration, but I prefer to save it for fast flankers like Ripperdactyle and Terradons. I frequently will bring on a few units of Razordons close to each other and in my important lines if I fear an enemy charge in the follow turn.

I normally let my EotGs summon my skinks. If EotGs fails me then I will use Celestial Conjuration, but I prefer to save it for fast flankers like Ripperdactyle and Terradons. I frequently will bring on a few units of Razordons close to each other and in my important lines if I fear an enemy charge in the follow turn.

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Past couples games I had my EotG never rolled to summon, but I'd definitely use it for skinks when possible. Next list i'm testing is gonna have 2 of those bad boys, hopefully I can get the summons more often

I had a game where the objectives could only be controlled by a wizard or a hero with an artefact (3 places of arcane power IIRC?), I actually managed to tie the game by summoning a starpriest on an objective on the last round. I think it goes to show we have a lot of versatility with this mechanic!

I play a heavy summon list where i will have about 40 points in turn 3, what will happen then ja what my Opponent deserves, if he is nice he will See 1 bastiladon in turn 2 and another in turn 3, if he is Not nice i will summon a dread Saurian in turn 3 and Go in eating his army

Skinks, Razordons, Ripperdactyls and Bastiladon are the best choices, IMO. Skinks block enemy movement and grab objectives, Razors are efficient shooting for their cost, Rippers can reach destination in turn 2 after summoning - especially strong if you have double turn chance. Bastiladon, well, no comments.

good units to summon should have a good chance to act at full power since their arrival, otherwise you wouldn't exploit the summon as you could.

So, if you want a unit that charges into melee, you should have a Cogs and / or the Constellation for a +3 to move and charge.
Units that can shoot and charge are good (troglodon, bastiladon)
units that can reliably shoot without the need for anything else are good too (razordons)
units that can use bonuses already on the battlefield are good (rippers, if you already have at least a toad in play)
units with good movement can be useful in certain scenarios (terradons, chama skinks)

Ripperdactyls are not worth summoning unless you have a Blot Toad around where they will be fighting. The only time they are worth summoning is through the Engine of the Gods on your first turn since they can add a Blot Toad to the table at that point.
I would much rather summon Terradon Riders otherwise because their Rocks + Shooting + swopping charge combo can do a lot of damage in a single turn.

Mwha in terms of situational usefullness nearly everything has it uses. Hell, even guard can function via summoning as you can potentially bring them in after taking out the opponent's sources of mortal wounds, or at least tying them up somewhere far away..

The only one that really never seems worth the summon is saurus warriors.. unless we can summon hordes of 40 or use summoning to reinforce existing units those simply don't really have a niche within summoning…

Mostly ripperdactyls first rounds. Razordon, sallies and skinks later on. Never a Bastiladon so far since I do love him but having played him for months last year, I 've clearly seen how random a 2d6 can be

A Carno could be useful as well though for that sweet d3 model flee against multiwounded things like nurgle flies. All you need is 1 dead fly and then you give yourself a good chance of d3 fleeing.